Application of Biotests in Cyanobacterial Extract Toxicity Assessment

The aim of the study was to determine the toxicity of the extract obtained from the cyanobacterial cells derived from the waters of Zemborzycki dam reservoir with use of a battery of biotests. The taxonomic identication of the bloom-forming cyanobacteria revealed high abundance of Aphanizomenon os-aquae and Dolichospermum spp. (Anabaena spp.) and in a lower degree of Microcystis aeruginosa and Planktothrix agardhii. In the extract obtained from concentrated cyanobacterial cells, hepatotoxin microcystin-LR at a concentration of 22.89 ± 3.74 μg/L and neurotoxin Antx-a at 13.02 ± 0.01 μg/L have been detected. Toxicity of the extract was evaluated with the following assays: Daphtoxkit F magna with the crustacean Daphnia magna, Thamnotoxkit F with the crustacean Thamnocephalus platyurus, Rotoxkit F with the rotifer Brachionus calyciorus and Protoxkit F with ciliate Tetrahymena thermophila. The most sensitive organism among all studied was T. platyurus for which EC50 was estimated to be 1.2% of the initial extract concentration. On the basis of the highest obtained value of the toxicity unit (TU = 83) the studied sample was classied to the IV class, which is of high acute toxicity. Additionally, it was found that reactivity on cyanobacterial products differs greatly among organisms used in bioassays, which indicate the need for using a set of biotests